iOS 6.1 beta 4

On January 28th, a mere five days from now, iOS 6.1 beta 4 will expire. If the past is any indication, then Apple will act, either releasing a 5th beta for iOS 6.1, or releasing the iOS 6.1 golden master — a final baked version, which shortly precedes a public release.

Since the firmware expires on the 28th, then I don’t see Apple waiting until that day before making a move. The most realistic time period for it to drop a new release — whether it be beta 5 or the golden master — would be tomorrow, the 24th, or Friday, the 25th.

The big question is whether or not Apple decides to push out another beta release, or feels comfortable releasing the golden master (final) version of iOS 6.1. While it’s not unheard of for Apple to go more than four releases deep into a beta period — iOS 5, for instance, saw seven different beta releases — it would be only the second time that this has happened for a non-major release.

The reason why the timing is so interesting for us, is because we believe that the hackers working on the iOS 6 jailbreak are waiting for a final version iOS 6.1 to be released, before finishing up and releasing the long awaited jailbreak. How do we know this? They basically told us as much…

Apple seeded the 4th beta installment of iOS 6.1 just a while ago, and it’s now available as both a delta update, and a direct download via Apple’s developer portal.

As we always strive to do, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to jailbreak iOS 6.1 beta 4 as a confirmation that it can be done. Inside, we’ll show you the exact steps that you need to take in order to do the same on your qualifying iOS 6 beta 4 device.

Apple has released what is reportedly its final iOS 6.1 beta a few minutes ago, when it pushed out iOS 6.1 beta 4 for all iOS devices including the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV.

Existing beta users can access the latest update via the General > Software Update section of the Settings.app. This delta update rings in at a modest 56.5 MB, while the full fledged update comes in at 896 MB when downloaded directly from Apple’s developer portal.